As Chanukah approaches has it ever crossed your mind that the candles in the menorah have something to say about our present-day lives? Have you ever noticed a veritable educational system in those glowing lights and especially in the halachos governing their lighting? The courageous victory of the Chashmonaim the triumph of few over many of the righteous over the wicked the wondrous miracle of the pure flask of oil notwithstanding there is another current message applicable in these very times in which we live.

Let us step out and look at the lights flickering quietly at our doorsteps or windowsills and try to discern their message. What life path should we follow to remain in their glow?

Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch tells us that the first thing we need to know is that Chanukah is about chinuch as its name suggests. The word chinuch denotes dedication. Chanukah began with the rededication of the Temple raising it from the tumah of the Greek idols back to the state of taharah and at the same time the Jewish People’s rededication to the purity of Torah ideology. Indeed it used to be customary in our communities to devote time and thought during Chanukah to questions pertaining to the chinuch of the young generation.

Rav Hirsch points out that even the laws that prescribe the form of the candles we light and the manner of lighting them teach a lesson about the torch of chinuch that we pass to the next generation. The Gemara begins with the words “The Rabbis taught: A candle to each man and his household. And for those who would enhance the mitzvah a candle for every individual”(Shabbos 21).

The plain interpretation of these words is that the requirement of lighting the Chanukah candle can be fulfilled by the head of the family on behalf of his wife and children. One who wants to enhance the mitzvah however is invited to have each member of the family light his own candle.

This is the mitzvah of lighting the menorah in its dry technical form. The commentators however probed deeper and found more profound layers of meaning. On a deeper level the halachah is saying: It isn’t enough that the flame of truth burns in your heart but rather “a candle to each man and his household.” As head of the family it is his responsibility to see to it that this flame is kindled in the hearts of his children as well. He must devote time to raising them properly and if he is aware that he should “enhance” the mitzvah he will give personal attention to each of them “a candle for every individual.”

Your household is not a monochrome unit. No! It is a multicolored spectrum of unique individuals each one a shining candle. Each one needs a different kind of attention suited to the character the Creator gave him to his particular emotional and intellectual needs. All this is your duty by virtue of your authority as head of the family and this authority is like candlelight. It is not wielded through force through storms of thunder and lightning but through personal example like the burning candle that glows quietly steadily and brightly and through these qualities it dispels the darkness. Then the enhancement of the mehadrin will take hold in your house “a candle for every individual.” Warmed by the light of your candle each one of your children will become a candle that burns brightly on its own.

The halachah further instructs us “On the first day he lights one and from then on he adds to it progressively.” (ibid.)

That is to say on the first day as we all know we light one candle. Each day afterwards we add another candle. On the second day two lights burn in our house on the fourth day four on the sixth day six and so on.

In terms of our chinuch obligations this halachah teaches and enjoins us not to stop. Don’t stagnate don’t become entrenched but keep increasing the light in your heart and your household every day untiringly. If you aren’t advancing you are retreating. Anyone who has rowed a boat upstream knows that even to stay in place he has to keep rowing forward otherwise he will be swept downstream. So don’t rest on your laurels. Never assume that your chinuch goals have been achieved because there is always a countercurrent moving against you…

The halachah goes on to say “It is a mitzvah to place the Chanukah candle at the entrance to one’s house on the outside.” (ibid.)

This is to remind us that the primary goal of the lighting is to publicize the miracle that occurred in those days before the eyes of our neighbors and all the passersby.

On the deeper level this is the test of a person: how much does he shine out on those around him? What kind of influence does his light and the light of his house exert on his neighbors on his street on his workplace his town and so forth?

Often throughout the many years I was engaged in kiruv I sought the advice and wisdom of the Torah leaders of the times regarding how to act toward people who were estranged from Judaism. What attitude should I adopt toward them? The answer was always the same; always show a friendly face no matter what. Hold firm to your position but shine brightly like a candle. On a number of occasions when I represented Torah to nonreligious groups I asked our leading posek Rav Elyashiv shlita how to conduct myself. Among all his instructions about what to say and how to say it he kept repeating the Gemara’s words “The Name of Heaven should be beloved through you.”

And now as I write I recall the ruling that the Brisker Rav Rav Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik ztz”l gave to a friend of mine who for various reasons had to leave the yeshivah and move to Beer Sheva. He asked Rav Yitzchak Zev what he should do since he would also have to teach in a secular high school. The Rav told him this: “To a nonreligious person you just give and don’t ask for anything in return.” Be nice to him. Let your light shine on him.

But the next halachah adds a new dimension setting limits to all that has been said so far: “In time of danger let him place it on his table and that is sufficient.” (ibid.) There were times during exile when the rulers forbade the Jews to kindle lights on certain days among other such decrees. The halachah stipulates that under those circumstances it is sufficient to light a candle inside the house.

In time of danger in times when a foreign culture dominates the streets when the whole essence of Chanukah is liable to be obscured and the people are at risk of becoming utterly confused then you must at least preserve the light in your own home. In times when the breakdown of the system is so widespread that many people of Jewish origin have in their homes next to the menorah a “holiday tree” which according to some researchers is a vestige of the asherah tree (a form of idolatry from the days of the Temple which later drifted into Christianity) then you must see to it that the light of pure unadulterated truth should burn in the hearts of your children until these dreadful times this darkness passes.

And if the light in your house is bright and strong the darkness will have to pass. As long as the candle is burning repair is possible. Even more than that — the candle itself effects repair.

Food for Thought

HaKadosh Baruch Hu created man upright walking on two legs not on four like an animal. Thus while an animal sees only the earth man also sees the heavens

(Rebbe Menachem Mendel the Tzemach Tzedek of Lubavitch)

In time of danger in times when a foreign culture dominates the streets and the people are at risk of becoming utterly confused then you must at least preserve the light in your own home